In Relation to the Body
by Hypnotoad76
Summary: Britta's given an assignment where she has to rank the study group in accordance to the human body


This has to be the stupidest assignment ever, Britta thought. For the most part she enjoyed her psych classes. She had an unusual knack for the subject matter (at least when she was able to fully read the material) and actually liked doing the assignments. But she really didn't see the point of this particular assignment.

She looked at her notebook as she re-read her homework assignment. _Pick a group of people you closely associate yourself with. It can be your family, friends, co-workers, classmates, members of a volunteer organization you attend, your church or community. With the group you pick decide which body part they would be if they were part of the human body. The part you choose for them should be representative of who they are as a person and the part they play in accordance to the group they are associated in. Include yourself in this scenario. _

Britta really didn't understand how this was supposed to relate to what she was studying. But it was due tomorrow. And it did seem relatively simple. All she had to do was make a list of a group of people and put a body part next to their name. So she might as well get started on it.

She didn't even pretend to think about the group she was going to use for the assignment. Of course she was going to choose the study group. That rag tag dysfunctional maniacs were the ones she most associated with. While she still thought of herself as a loner, she really did appreciate being having those people in her life.

First she might as well start with herself. This one came to her relatively easily. She was the heart of the group. Jeff had told her that almost two years ago during April fool's day, because she made others feel bad about ignoring social issues and was the glue that held them all together. Britta generally wasn't a sappy person. To her that implied having your emotions easily manipulated. But it had meant a lot to her when he told her that (not that she's ever let him know). She knew she tended to rub people the wrong way. It was just how she was. And she'd rather people dislike the real her then fawn over a fake her. So to be called the heart of the group truly touched her.

Britta=Heart

Now that she was taken care of, she might as well start out with the simpler members of the group to place. First Jeff. In accordance with the human body Jeff would be the head. He was the one who was their figure head (though she was still her own woman) and the one who could usually get people to do stuff.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed. Abed was the one who saw everything. He had the intuitive ability to notice things others missed. So Abed was obviously the eyes.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed=Eyes

Shirley? Britta tapped her pen against her knee as she thought about what body part Shirley would be. Who was Shirley? Well, she was judgmental. She was passive aggressive. She was way too religious and did everything possible to convert people over to her way of thinking. How did that translate into a body part?

Maybe if I focus on her more positive traits it will come to me, Britta thought. Shirley was kind. She was sweet. She was nurturing. She looked out for everyone, even though she clearly didn't agree with most of what the group said or did. Very much like a mom did. Or at least most moms. She was always baking things for everyone, picking people up. She often has supplies for them in that giant purse of hers. So what body part represented someone who physically helped a lot of people out?

And then it came to her. Hands. People used their hands to help other people out and do many tasks to accomplish that. That fit Shirley.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed=Eyes

Shirley=Hands

Now for Troy. How could you describe Troy in ways that pertained to the body, she wondered. He was simple. It didn't take a great deal to make him happy. He acted very childish, but at times showed greater maturity then Jeff or Pierce. He wasn't the same person he was when she first met him. When he first joined the study group he kept trying to be the role of a jock. But as time went on his interests changed to where he became more geeky and sensitive. So basically he's grown and changed. What part of the body grows and changes? She could think of some parts, but she wasn't going to assign them to anyone (while she wanted to be completely objective, she also had to take into account someone from the group potentially seeing this list). Your bones grew and changed. And he did possess the ability to hold people up (like when they had their first dance recital.) Yea, bones fit Troy.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed=Eyes

Shirley=Hands

Troy=Bones

Britta smiled as she looked at her assignment. Only two to go. Now for Pierce. What body part described Pierce? The asshole. But again she wasn't going to put that in case he ever saw the list (with this group privacy wasn't always a guarantee.) So who was Pierce, she thought. He was judgmental. He was behind on the times. He was childish and immature. That's why the group made fun of him all the time. He was the only one of the group that got ragged on more than herself. They made fun of him for everything. And yet it seemed to serve a purpose. Most of the people in the group could be very petty. And it seemed they needed someone to focus their judgementism and pettiness on. The few times Pierce had been exorcized from the group caused everyone to turn on each other. Pierce was the lightening rod that absorbed a lot of their pettiness. He was a filter for any toxicness they gave off. And what part of the body absorbed toxins? The liver. Pierce was the liver.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed=Eyes

Shirley=Hands

Troy=Bones

Pierce=Liver

Now she just had one more person to go.

The smile left Britta's face as she looked down at the last name she had. She had purposely avoided assigning a body part to Annie until it was absolutely time to do so. It wasn't that she hated Annie. Quite the opposite. The reason she had avoided putting Annie in this assignment was because she didn't want the girl stealing her role and her thunder.

Britta had meant what she said before. It meant a lot to her that she was seen as the heart of the group. But the truth was that Annie also had a lot of heart in her. She was almost unnervingly kind and considerate, doing everything possible to see the best in people. She had also become more assertive and take charge then she had been when she first joined the group. She looked out for the group and was able to actually get them to do things (the little actual studying they got done was almost always due to Annie.) She was…she was…

Britta threw her pen down in frustration. NO! She was NOT going to lose her position of the heart. She didn't care how many heart-like qualities Annie possessed. SHE was the heart.

Britta knew she was being childish about it. But she didn't want to lose to Annie again. It had already happened too many times. She couldn't forget about how many more guys gave Annie money then her when the two of them were fundraising for that oil spill. And the group was always much more forgiving of Annie's mistakes then of Britta's. When Annie did something annoying they more or less let it go. When Britta did something annoying they ragged on her endlessly. It wasn't fair. Sometimes she saw them like the show Everyone Loves Raymond. Annie was Raymond, who everyone adored and fawned over. And she was the older brother Robert, who everyone passed over and mocked.

Britta couldn't help chuckling as she thought of that comparison. She hadn't told many people this, but growing up she always wanted a little sister. Another Perry girl she could pass down pearls of wisdom to. Someone who could be her partner in crime and (she couldn't believe she was saying this), someone she could confide in. But clearly that was just further proof that her life rarely worked out in her favor since she ended up being the youngest born and the only girl to her parents.

Yet since she met Annie Britta slowly was starting to see her as the little sister she never had. Annie was naïve and clearly needed Britta's guidance on things, from how the world actually worked to developing some decent taste in music. The two of them had gone on several adventures together, like when the two of them and Shirley tried to see the 'anatomically correct' model. Britta tried to give the younger girl advice on how things actually were. Most times she either didn't listen or messed it up by putting her unique spin on it. But the fact remained that like the rest of the group, Britta couldn't help looking out for the hyperactive studywart.

But Britta also realized the downside of having someone like Annie be like a little sister. And that was that this rivalry existed between them. They were always being compared against each other, which really wasn't fair since they were their own separate woman. All that did was create hostility against the sisterhood of all women kind. People always seemed to prefer Annie over her. Hell, guys she either dated or had an interest in always seemed to gravitate towards Annie after things didn't work out with her.

Britta would rather it be that Annie was manipulative and was doing this on purpose. But she knew that for the most part Annie wasn't intentionally trying to cause this rivalry between them. It just seemed to happen. And she shouldn't let it get in the way of their friendship.

But that being said, she was NOT going to give up her spot as the heart. There HAD to be something else that fit Annie besides the heart. Britta tried to think about what other body part applied to Annie. Annie seemed to connect the group, at least when it came to studying. Besides the heart what else in the body connected everything? There was the brain. But while Annie was smart somehow Britta didn't feel it truly applied to her. When Britta associated the brain with people it meant the person was unemotional. And that was in no way a way to describe Annie. Burt what else in the body connected everything and was associated with emotion-.

And just then Britta stopped as a slow smile came to her. She had it. The perfect body part to describe Annie. Blood. In relation to the body Annie was blood. It described how Annie connected everyone together and the emotion she felt.

It also seemed to signify the connection between the two of them. For blood couldn't flow through the body unless it was pumped by the heart. Annie could get people to listen to her, but she still needed Britta to go about it. Britta knew how to help direct Annie's influence and guide her (ok, that one might have been a stretch. But damn it she was on a role.) Because of Britta's ability to mettle and push, Annie was able to mettle and push. Maybe that was why they were so often compared together. Because they both were needed to perform parts of the same purpose.

Britta=Heart

Jeff=Head

Abed=Eyes

Shirley=Hands

Troy=Bones

Pierce=Liver

Annie=Blood

Britta put her pen down, glad to be done with the assignment. And as she looked at it, she realized that maybe there was a purpose to it after all.


End file.
